Cpl. Angel Cabrera. FOB Delhi, Afghanistan. December 2011.

U.S. Marine Cpl. Angel Cabrera, a 24-year-old administrative specialist with Headquarters and Service Company, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment and native of Amsterdam, N.Y., prepares promotion warrants for presentation while working here on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24. This Christmas morning, much every morning of their seven-month deployment, the Marines and sailors of “America’s Battalion” donned their uniforms, tied their boots and began another workday. They celebrated Christmas with each other throughout the day and briefly shared it with friends and family by phone and internet. Another day complete, far away from their loved ones, they rested for the next day’s work, one day closer to returning home.